Tour of California 2019 – Stage 3 [LAST 25 KM]

May 14, 2019

Tour of California 2019 – Stage 3 – Stockton – Morgan Hill : 208 km

The 2019 Amgen Tour of California organisers have announced the 13 host cities for the 14th edition of America’s only WorldTour stage race. Throughout seven stages over seven days from May 12-18, the world’s elite cyclists will contest more than 1,200 kilometres of roadways, highways and coastlines from Sacramento to Pasadena. Other stops along the route include Rancho Cordova, South Lake Tahoe, Stockton, Morgan Hill, Laguna Seca Raceway, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, Ventura, Ontario, Mt. Baldy and Santa Clarita. Thirteen WorldTour teams will compete alongside five Pro Continental teams and the USA Cycling National Team. The rebranded Team Ineos, formerly Team Sky, will lead the pack, although defending champion Egan Bernal will not be on the start line in Sacramento.

Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won stage 3 of the Tour of California in Morgan Hill on Tuesday, striking out from a two-man break to ride solo for 75km to the finish. Ben King (Dimension Data) and Simon Geschke (CCC Team), who both attacked 22km out, took second and third, 7:11 back.

Cavagna quickly built a lead of a minute over his former companion – Alex Hoehn of the USA National Team – and with no impetus to chase in the peloton, the stage result became clear some way before the end. In the final 20km, Hoehn, who now leads the mountains classification, hit the wall, and was eventually caught by the attacking duo of Geschke and King with 3.5km to go.

Cavagna calmly soloed the final kilometres to take the second victory of his career, leaving King to beat Geschke in the sprint for second place.

“It was really hard. Not on the climb, but on the downhill I was a little bit scared because it was really tricky, although I tried not to take too many risks, and I did it,” a delighted Cavagna told reporters at the finish.

“I’m really happy because it’s my first victory this year, and my first victory on the WorldTour, so it’s really nice for me,” he said.

Race leader Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) came home with the peloton, just under eight minutes behind the stage winner, and retained his six-second lead over Team Ineos’ Gianni Moscon, with the winner of stage 2, Cavagna’s Deceuninck teammate Kasper Asgreen, in third, a further second back.

How it unfolded

It was another big climbing day at the Tour of California, adding a sting to the legs after the previous day’s stage 2 climb to South Lake Tahoe. Stage 3 was another long one – 208km from Stockton to Morgan Hill, with six climbs: the category 2 Patterson Pass Rd (53.5km), category 3 Mines Rd (77km), category 3 San Antonio Valley Rd summit 1 (120.5km) and summit 2 (131km), the hors-categorie Mt. Hamilton (139.5km) and then the category 2 Quimby Rd (159.5km).

A group of 19 riders set off in the fast and furious opening kilometres of the race, but with Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) among them, the move was never going to last. As the highest placed rider of the bunch at only 42 seconds down, the peloton, led by EF Education First, weren’t willing to let Dennis get too far up the road, and it all came back together before the first KOM.

Just ahead of Patterson Pass Road, which was 5.2km long at an average of 6.1 per cent, the day’s main breakaway set off with only two riders: Cavagna and Hoehn. The pair quickly gained two minutes, but that ballooned out to over six minutes by the top of the climb.

Neither was a threat to van Garderen’s overall lead, as Hoehn was 8:13 down and Cavagna was 17:52 back. Hoehn took the points at the top of the climb and, once they gained nine minutes, he became the virtual race leader. He, again, took full points on the second KOM over Mines Rd, and over both climbs up San Antonio Valley Rd.

Mid-stage, Paweł Bernas (CCC Team) decided to liven up the proceedings by going on the attack 100km out. He had no chance of catching the lead duo, and hung midway between them and the peloton for 35km before being caught on Mt. Hamilton.

Cavagna decided to strike out at the bottom of that climb, some 75km from the line. It was the day’s toughest climb at 7.2km long, with an average gradient of 8.4 per cent, and Hoehn was quickly distanced. Cavagna collected the full points at the top of the hors-categorie climb but it wasn’t enough to surpass the points lead that Hoehn had built up on the earlier climbs.

Mountains classification leader Davide Ballerini (Astana Pro Team) had jumped from the peloton to nab points on several of the day’s earlier climbs, keen to try to preserve his lead in that classification. It wasn’t enough, though – the jersey would be handed over at the end of the stage.

Cavagna pushed over the top, and even though he struggled through the corners on the descent of Highway 130 and onto the final climb of Quimby Rd., he led Hoehn by almost a minute. The climb was 2.1km long, with an average of 8.8 per cent, and topped out 49km from the finish line at Morgan Hill. Cavagna duly took the points, and Hoehn crested in second place and secured a total of 31 points to edge into the lead of the mountain classification.

On the descent off Quimby Rd., Cavagna struggled once more, but held his 2:30 lead over Hoehn. Back in the peloton there was no impetus to even try to reel in the two leaders – EF were happy with the race situation.

Once Cavagna was down on flatter roads heading towards San Jose and Morgan Hill, his lead held strong, and he was joking with the team car with 40km to race. Further back, the peloton knocked the pace down a touch as the gap grew to over eight minutes.

Heading into the final 30km, Hoehn started to struggle, calling for gels and drinks from the team car. He shedded time to Cavagna, but ploughed on, with four minutes of time either side of him.

It was then that Geschke set off in pursuit of Hoehn, 22km from the line, and was followed by King.

Descending from the final intermediate sprint, which was cruelly placed at the top of a hill, Cavagna once again had a tough time of it. The Frenchman ran off the road and into the dirt verge, but stayed upright, cursing himself as he got going again.

A flat run-in posed no such challenges for Cavagna, though, and he was free to enjoy his victory. Over seven minutes later, King won the sprint for second ahead of Geschke, wth the pair having caught and passed Hoehn 3.5km from the finish.

Results :
1 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 5:44:22
2 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:07:11
3 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
4 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:07:47
5 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
6 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
7 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
8 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
9 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
11 Travis McCabe (USA) USA National Team
12 Sergio Andres Higuita (Col) EF Education First
13 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos
14 Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy
15 David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Ineos
16 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
17 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
18 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
19 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb
20 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
21 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
22 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
23 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
24 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
25 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
26 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
27 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
28 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
29 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First
30 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
31 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First
32 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
33 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
34 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team
35 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
36 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
37 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
38 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
39 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
40 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
41 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First
42 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
43 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
44 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
45 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
46 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
47 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
48 João Almeida (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
49 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
50 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
51 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
52 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data
53 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team 0:07:54
54 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
55 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
56 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
57 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy
58 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Israel Cycling Academy 0:07:58
59 Keegan Swirbel (USA) USA National Team
60 Tyler Stites (USA) USA National Team
61 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Ineos 0:08:06
62 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
63 Alex Hoehn (USA) USA National Team 0:08:12
64 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos 0:08:19
65 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:08:34
66 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:11:24
67 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
68 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:23:30
69 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
70 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team
71 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
72 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
73 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
74 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
75 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
76 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
77 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
78 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
79 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
80 Roy Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
81 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
82 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
83 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
84 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
85 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Ineos
86 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
87 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
88 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
89 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
90 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
91 Jonathan Brown (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
92 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep
93 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
94 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
95 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
96 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
97 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team
98 Michael Hernandez (USA) USA National Team
99 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) Hagens Berman Axeon
100 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
101 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
102 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
103 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
104 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
105 Samuel Boardman (USA) USA National Team
106 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos
107 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
108 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
109 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
110 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
111 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
112 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
113 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
114 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb
115 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
116 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
117 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
118 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
119 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
120 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
121 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
122 Cole Davis (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
123 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
124 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
125 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
126 Miguel Bryon (USA) USA National Team
127 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
128 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First
DNF Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
DNF Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
DNF Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk

General Classification after Stage 3 :
1 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First 15:23:28
2 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos 0:00:06
3 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:07
4 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:16
5 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:22
6 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:00:33
7 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
8 David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Ineos 0:00:34
9 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:35
10 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:36
11 Sergio Andres Higuita (Col) EF Education First
12 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First
13 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:37
14 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
15 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First
16 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
17 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:42
18 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:44
19 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
20 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:46
21 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
22 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:48
23 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:51
24 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:00:54
25 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:55
26 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:00:57
27 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
28 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:59
29 Travis McCabe (USA) USA National Team 0:01:01
30 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team 0:01:08
31 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:26
32 Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:28
33 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team 0:01:41
34 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
35 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:02:12
36 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:35
37 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:55
38 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:10
39 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:13
40 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:03:22
41 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:04:48
42 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:08:13
43 João Almeida (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
44 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
45 Tyler Stites (USA) USA National Team 0:08:21
46 Keegan Swirbel (USA) USA National Team 0:08:24
47 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
48 Alex Hoehn (USA) USA National Team 0:08:34
49 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates 0:08:43
50 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:09:49
51 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:12:01
52 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team 0:13:08
53 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:13:38
54 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team 0:14:50
55 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Ineos 0:15:38
56 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy 0:16:21
57 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:17:11
58 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates 0:17:52
59 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
60 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:18:03
61 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:18:21
62 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:18:25
63 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:18:39
64 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:18:44
65 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos 0:18:51
66 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:23:28
67 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:23:56
68 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk 0:24:07
69 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
70 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
71 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
72 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:25:00
73 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:26:25
74 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
75 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
76 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:26:43
77 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:29:01
78 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:29:31
79 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:33:21
80 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Ineos 0:33:31
81 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
82 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
83 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:33:35
84 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
85 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
86 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
87 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
88 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
89 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
90 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
91 Miguel Bryon (USA) USA National Team
92 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
93 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos
94 Samuel Boardman (USA) USA National Team 0:33:46
95 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:33:52
96 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:33:59
97 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:34:01
98 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team 0:34:22
99 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:34:30
100 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:34:34
101 Cole Davis (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:34:36
102 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:35:54
103 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:37:51
104 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:41:22
105 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:42:00
106 Michael Hernandez (USA) USA National Team 0:42:05
107 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:42:08
108 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
109 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
110 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
111 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
112 Roy Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:42:19
113 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
114 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:42:25
115 Jonathan Brown (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
116 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
117 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:42:30
118 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:42:37
119 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
120 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First
121 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:42:48
122 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:42:55
123 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:42:58
124 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:43:00
125 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:44:01
126 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:45:33
127 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:52:24
128 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:54:01